Brewers bats stay hot, pound Mariners
SEATTLE - The Milwaukee Brewers are beginning to show that they don't need Ryan Braun -- or Rickie Weeks, for that matter - to score runs in bunches.
The Brewers used a six-run seventh inning and a solid start from left-hander Tom Gorzelanny to hammer the Seattle Mariners for the second night in a row, earning a 10-0 victory on Saturday. Milwaukee piled up 16 hits while shutting out and opponent for the fifth time in 23 games since the All-Star break.
In the first two games of this series, the Brewers have erupted for 20 runs and 27 hits.
"It makes it fun to sit back and watch it, " Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke said. "There were a lot of good at-bats (Saturday)."
After scratching out just three hits over the first six innings of the game, Milwaukee had five in its first six at-bats of the seventh, resulting in a sudden 6-0 lead. The big blow came on Scooter Gennett's three-run home run, which came off the glove of Mariners right fielder Michael Morse as he tried to bring the fly ball back into the park.
That was more than enough for Gorzelanny, who pitched seven shutout innings while allowing just three hits to improve to 3-4 on the season. He struck out seven and allowed just two runners to advance past first base.
Mariners starter Hisashi Iwakuma was so good in the early innings that the Brewers took to bunting on him. Not even that strategy seemed to be working out until Carlos Gomez led off the seventh with a bunt single after avoiding a tag with a dive into first base. Iwakuma appeared to strain his back while running to cover first base on the play, and it affected his performance the rest of the way.|
Milwaukee piled up five hits and six runs - all on 13 pitches - before Iwakuma finally got an out in the inning.
"I don't like to admit it," Iwakuma said of the injury, "but ever since that play, my pitches were up. I don't like to make excuses, but I'm sure it had some kind of effect."
Iwakuma allowed nine hits and six runs over 6 2/3 innings. All but three of those hits came during the pivotal seventh inning, during which he threw 24 of his 81 pitches for the night.
"It just kind of snowballed," Mariners acting manager Robby Thompson said. "(Iwakuma) had the ball elevated over the plate, and they took advantage of it."
Milwaukee added four runs off Seattle reliever Lucas Luetge in the ninth inning to cap off another blowout win. The Brewers entered the series having not scored double-digit runs in a game since June 12, and they've now done it two days in a row.
Notes: Before Saturday's game, the Mariners honored former star Ken Griffey Jr., who was enshrined as the seventh member of the organization's hall of fame. The pre-game ceremony brought in the first sellout crowd of the season, with an announced attendance of 46,027 at Safeco Field. ... The start of the game was delayed 15 minutes because the Griffey ceremony ran long. ... Heading into Saturday night's game, Seattle had made 12 errors over a 10-game span. The Mariners have had three or more errors in three of their past 15 games after doing it just once over the first 101 games of the season. ... Entering Saturday's game, the Brewers held a 2-8 record in interleague play.
